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This summer I went to Yosemite for the first time with my family. We drove through miles and miles of burnt-out trees. Jet-black trunks, branches parched golden brown. Now it's burning again.
All along our trip, we drove by lakes and streams that flowed at half-capacity. You see those photos online, but nothing, nothing hits home like being there, in the flesh, staring at those barren banks that are supposed to be under water.
If you have half a heart cell that loves nature, things like this hurt. Doesn't matter if it's fire caused by lightning or a malicious strike of the match. Doesn't matter if the drought is caused by the tantrums of those fickle climatic toddlers El Niño and La Niña or the fossilized gases we've been spewing into the atmosphere. We inhabit a maddeningly gorgeous planet and it would really be nice to keep it that way. Just ask your children.
On our way back, down the 580 that parallels the East Bay, we drove past several rolling hills of wind turbines. My husband said two years ago when he made the same trip from the Yosemite area, there were just a few turbines. And we've been seeing a lot more electric vehicles on the roads.
Are we finally getting it? I would say yes, slowly, we are. Slowly. But if the likes of the extraordinary people I've recently had the honor of working with (see below in "Making the Scene" #2) have anything to say about the world, we just might be alright in the end.
So let's not stop the forward momentum. Every little thing you do, Does. Actually. Matter.
~ Birgitte
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Every writer has a reason for writing. I've just published mine.
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After years of writing, months of interfacing with a group of visionaries, days of layout and book production, hours upon hours with my cover artist tweaking the minutest details, and an endless stream of seconds preparing for the launch, we're finally here, standing on the threshold of release.
Not release as in relief (well, that too). Release as in book launch!
The Visionary will be officially published on September 30, but you can already pre-order it, in print or on your Kindle.* What's more, the pre-order prices for both print and ebook are lower than the full price when we launch, so get thee to the pre-order web page!
Don't forget to get some for Mom, Dad, Fam & Friends, Main Squeeze and The Boss, too. Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Easter are coming up. Ok, maybe not quite, but somebody's due for a birthday soon no?
You can always punch holes in the cover of the book and use it as an innovative Halloween costume. Or a meditation device (book on head works wonders). Or a psychological weapon of war on your school-age children ("See this? If you want to be a real-life visionary you need to do your homework and eat your veggies!")
Just envision the infinite possibilities!
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("Making the Scene" again? Yes and here's what:)
Also launching in the next few weeks, walking down that digital aisle a little ahead of the blushing book, is the long-awaited "The Visionaries" project. These are stories of living breathing individuals who couldn't just sit by and let the world roll by them. They have a vision and they're acting on it.
We're busting out of the gate with a group of twenty real-life visionaries. Black, White, Asian, Latino, Native American, they come from all walks of life: an environmental attorney, an educator, an app developer (or three), an inventor, an urban gardener, a community leader. You won't have seen them photobombing the Emmys, sending Instagram selfies to millions of adoring fans, or vacationing in some ridiculously expensive floation device (aka private yacht). But under their feet, the world is changing, little by little—just like the droplets of water you save when you take shorter shower add up to entire lakes.
So get the book, in print or on your Kindle.* It might just stir up inspiration deep inside you didn't know you had.
And if it does, you can be one of them. This group of visionaries is just the first batch. You can tell your story whenever you're ready.
Oh, one more thing.
We're publishing a special tribute in the book for a visionary who left us far too early. She was a social entrepreneur who left her mark all over the world, was a mother to two children, and a wonderful bright young woman. You'll no doubt recognize her name; and if you don't, you'll surely have heard of some of the companies she ran. I'll announce her name in the next issue of "The Muse."
*Pre-order is available for print and Kindle only. Amazon won't charge you until the book is actually delivered. Starting Sept 30 the book will release on all major platforms.
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All those beautiful bits and bytes coursing through the global veins of the Internet, stretching for thousands of miles around our little blue planet. It's fast, it's nimble, and it's at the touch of our fingertips TWENTY-FOUR-SEVEN.
I—and a whole lot of other people—sure want to keep it that way. The Internet *should* be a public utility, right? Apparently a few large ISP's don't think so. I've been watching this whole Net Neutrality movement for the past few months, and this morning I did the deed. Called my elected official to support classification of Internet Service Providers as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act.
Tomorrow, September 10th, the World Wide Web will experience a massive "Internet slowdown." But only in name, of course. Netflix, Meetup, Kickstarter, Tumblr, Vimeo, Etsy, Y Combinator, and many other people and organizations—yes me too!—are uploading the "wheel of death" icon to their sites to mimic what the web might look and feel like if we lose net neutrality.
See what I mean about your actions making a difference? There's more here.
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